Samsung Droid Charge available April 28, $299 on contract

Samsung and Verizon have "officially" unveiled the Samsung Droid Charge (see our hands-on from CES), making it available April 28 for $299.99 with a two-year agreement. It will be the second LTE device to hit big red, and I know a lot of folks are waiting for that sweet 4.3 inch SAMOLED plus screen and 4G speeds.

Also from the press release, the @droidlanding scavenger hunt kicks off today offering up 16 chances to find and win one of these beauties. So be sure to keep an eye on Twitter, and possibly save yourself a few dollars. Hit the break for the full press release. [Samsung USA Newsroom]

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. –Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced that the Droid Charge by Samsung will be available April 28 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online atwww.verizonwireless.com.

The Droid Charge is designed with Samsung’s 4.3-inch Super AMOLED™ Plus display, setting a new touch screen standard for brightness, clarity and outdoor visibility. The Droid Charge is equipped with both a rear-facing 8 megapixel camera with LED flash and front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera for both stills and video chatting. The smartphone’s 1GHz application processor and HTML 5 Web browser maximizes high-speed 4G LTE connectivity for faster downloads and graphics processing.

- Android 2.2 platform – With support for Google Mobile Services including Gmail, YouTube™, Google Talk, Google Search, Google Maps and access to more than 150,000 apps available to download from Android Market™

- Adobe® Flash® Player compatible

- Mobile Hotspot capability – share 4G connection with up to 10 WiFi-enabled devices or a 3G connection with up to 5 devices

- The Droid Charge by Samsung will be available for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

- Droid Charge customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access. Unlimited 4G LTE data packages start at $29.99 monthly access. Mobile hotspot feature will be included for a limited time at no additional charge.

Find the DROID Charge

Beginning April 21, anyone over the age of 18 can participate in an exclusive Droid Charge Scavenger Hunt. Follow the online clues to find hidden locations in 16 different cities to win a Droid Charge by Samsung. For additional information about the DROID Charge scavenger hunt, visit: http://twitter.com/droidlanding.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest and most advanced 4G network and largest and most reliable 3G network, and serves more than 93 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 80,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library atwww.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Samsung Droid Charge available April 28, $299 on contract

$299 on contract?! What the hell are they thinking? It's not even new hardware, it's the same single core hummingbird SOC as the rest of the Galaxy S variants with a (barely noticeable) bump in screen size...

Not a bad phone but that's pretty pricey considering what you pay over the life of a contract. I would probably look at Amazon or Wirefly pricing. At this point if I were considering a Samsung phone I would hold out for the Galaxy 2 whatever Verizon decides to call it. I'm not sure if that will include lte but if it does that will be the king of the Verizon mountain. For me its a moot point anyway because I'm happy with my Droid X and I want to wait until my contract is completely over and weigh my carrier options at that time. Sprint being so tight with Google is making me consider a move for a Nexus device of some type.'

Thats far too much. If all new LTE phones are gonna be +$200 it may make my decision to jump to T-Mo a little easier. I'll wait and see if VZW is planning on bringing LTE to my area soon, If not i'm jumping ship, because 3G is great from all carriers where I live and actually I get HSPA+ where I work. Add that on top of the fact HTC has been going the way of Moto and trending towards locked bootloaders, I'd have the option of the Nexus line on T-Mo. Plus I don't think stock android is anywhere near vzw's future, for any of their phones.

thats my pissed rant.

Summary: $300 for a Fascinate with LTE and a new screen is not worth it. Especially considering most the country can't utilize LTE yet. $250 should be the price cut-off for phones on 2 year.

No thank you, I bought my DX for $300.00 out right with no contract, I will look at doing the same thing on my next phone. The DX is working great with GB and not rooted. The 4.3" screen works for my mature eyes and the smaller screens do not, I can not focus on them, toooo small.
I do not see anything in Big Reds line up that would entice me to get a new phone at this time. I still like the Atrix, but wrong service. I agree on outdated hardware for to big a price. If they are going to $299.00 with 2/yr contract, I will look else where to purchase a phone.

It will be interesting how longs it stays at $299. I'm personally interested in the Samsung Infuse, but if it's over $200 I'll be looking elsewhere.
Though this looks like a good phone and LTE would be great, I don't think most people will pay that kind of premium.

I know people who have paid more for phones. I used to by phones unlocked at $450-$600 so a $299 contract does not look as bad to me. My friends have paid well over $1000 for nokia's. I understand this phone isnt for everyone. Im a total visual person, im in graphic design so colors and looks matter to me more then hardware. Its still a fast smooth looking phone (minus hardware buttons). Screen comes first for me, then specs. So a SAMOLED Plus screen drags me in fast. I hoping for a good phone tho by the end of the year as ill have another upgrade in oct so ill be grabing my duel-core goodness around then. I wana see if verizon will bring out a 3D phone.

Had Samsung made this Verizon's Nexus device(w/Vanilla Android)and $50 less I would have considered it.As it stands,it has the software Samsung should have given the Fascinate 6 months ago.The screen will probably be beautiful but everyone who knows,knows what they get with Samsung's "support".You can't say you haven't been warned.........

Who in the right mind will pay $300 for this phone when a dual core device is around the corner. Not a big fan of Samsung anyways. Getting sick of Verizon slacking in choices of high-end cell phones while other carriers getting super phones like the new ITC there ...

Well, given the battery issues other phones have faced sporting Super AMOLED screens, as well as the Thunderbolt's illustrating how LTE sucks battery...I'm betting the Charge goes about 2hours average before needing to be plugged in... :p

I will pass on this one. Have to wait until end of September to upgrade (on contract) anyways. Hoping there will be at least one dual-core LTE Android phone available by then. I agree that $299 is too much for a Galaxy S phone even if it is LTE and SAMOLED plus display. I don't have LTE in my area and won't have it anytime soon. Not on the schedule of cities to get LTE by end of 2011.

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